


The Fight

by karmarocks



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Sick Keith (Voltron), Sickfic, sneezefic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-22 13:17:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12482480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karmarocks/pseuds/karmarocks
Summary: This is inspired (sort of…maybe the beginning a little?) by me overreacting to none of my friends coming to my choir concert this past year in college. Only like fifteen people showed up to the event total, so I was very upset. Of course I retaliated by trying to make them feel bad and showing up to their band/orchestra concert. It did not work, but I got over myself.Anyways basically Lance is pissed at Keith and Keith is sick. It is VERY self-indulgent and a tiny bit angsty in terms of Keith's past.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write something for Keith's birthday, but the inspiration fairy hasn't hit yet so here is a fic that has been sitting in my docs for a really long time lol.

Keith lay in his bed, shivery and exhausted. He knew he’d promised Lance he would go to his performance that night, but he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open long enough to dial the number he knew by heart or even send a short text. He fell asleep with his phone in his hands, not waking up to the multiple texts and calls from his boyfriend. When Lance burst through the door about two hours later, he was livid. “Keith! Get your lazy, lying ass out of bed and explain to me why you missed my concert tonight! If you don’t want to date me at least have the courtesy to tell me!”

Keith startled, eyes shooting open to see a red-faced Lance packing a suitcase. “L-ladce? Wh-where are you g-goigg?” He asked, tears welling in his eyes. Lance turned and gave him a hateful glare. “I’m going back to my place for a while, until you are man enough to either apologize or break up with me.” With that he turned on his heel, slamming the door on his way out, leaving Keith in a heap on the floor, sobbing. By the time he pulled himself from the floor, he knew he definitely had a fever.

After a few days of feeling his health steadily decline, Keith had run out of almost everything in his apartment. He could live without tissues or cold medicine, but not having food was a no-no. He knew Hunk and Pidge had class right then, and Shiro was out of town for work, so that left one person on his very short contact list. He took a deep breath to calm himself, only sending him into a violent fit of coughing that he tried to smother when he heard Lance pick up.

“What do you want.” Was the cold voice that seemed to be demanding an answer, rather than asking. “Ladce… I deed to go to the store add I really dod’t thidk I cad bake it there… Do you thidk you could go grab be sobe stuff add just leave it outside by roob?”

“No, I cannot, actually. I have plans tonight with Rollo and Nyma that I need to get ready for.”

Keith felt his heart twinge at the thought of Lance going out with those two, when the three of them got together it was always bad news for Lance. “Ladce. You dod’t have to take be to the store, but please, do dot go out with Dyba add Rollo. Dot for by sake, but for yours.” He pleaded, trying not to let the congestion in his voice show too much. “Tch, listen to yourself, Keith. I can tell you’re faking being sick so I’ll feel bad and come back to you, but it isn’t happenin’, sugar. If you want me back, you’ll have to come out and find me tonight.” With that he hung up, secretly thrilled. Keith would come to the club that night and make a scene. Lance could never break up with Keith, but he was angry at him for missing his concert the other night. He was so upset about Keith being a no-show that he’d messed up on not only his flute solo in the orchestra, but also his special piccolo parts in the wind ensemble, and then the conductor had yelled at him for a solid ten minutes after the concert had ended. It always made him swoon when Keith made a scene for him. Keith sighed when Lance hung up, knowing he was expected to go make a scene and defend Lance’s honor or something, so he figured he should get to the store and pick something up that would prepare him for the long night he was about to have.

Bundling up in as many layers as he could, Keith began his journey to the store. Normally the trip took fifteen minutes on average, but Keith’s movements were slower than usual due to fever, and he kept having to stop and brace himself on various objects if he became dizzy or was overcome with a particularly strong bout of coughs or sneezes.

By the time he finally arrived at the store, he knew for sure his fever was spiking. He was alternating between feeling as though he were about to have a heat stroke and feeling like he was freezing to death. He grabbed a basket and shakily made his way towards the aisle labeled cold and flu. He started to put things in the basket, then he heard familiar voices emanating from the next aisle over— “Fuck you, Hunk! I want peeps!”

“Dude, you need to start eating healthier if you ever want to grow.”

“Shut up! I’m happy the size that I am.”

Keith felt like he could cry with relief, and he staggered towards the voices, having to hold onto some of the shelves to keep his balance. When neither Hunk nor Pidge noticed his presence at first, he cleared his throat a bit in an effort to get their attention. As they looked up Hunk rolled his eyes, and Pidge gave him a look of disdain. It seemed Lance had told them everything. “What do you want, Keith?” Pidge spat, not bothering to cover the bitterness in their voice. Now Keith felt like he was going to cry from their rejection, and he did so, unable to stop the flow of tears and subsequent stream of mucus from his nose due to his burgeoning fever and congestion.

Hunk’s entire demeanor changed, from exasperated by Keith’s presence to concerned. He reached towards Keith, whose entire body was shaking as he rubbed at his eyes in a futile attempt to stop the tears, and pulled him to his chest, feeling the heat radiating from Keith’s smaller form, and noticing that his hair was damp.

“Did you walk here?”

“Y-yes… I kdew you add Pidge had class so I tried to ask Ladce for a ride, but he said do add accused be of fakigg beigg sick… I’b out of food add tissues add medicide…”

“Pidge, get his basket and finish getting the stuff. I’m going to take him back to his apartment and I want you to meet us there as soon as possible. He needs to get some medicine, but right now I want him warm and hydrated.”

Pidge saluted and raced off, peeps completely forgotten. Their friend needed them.

Hunk picked Keith up, frowning at how light he was. Sure, Hunk wouldn’t have a problem lifting Keith on a good day, but he was definitely lighter than normal.

“When’s the last time you ate anything?” He murmured to Keith, trying to keep as much of the smaller man’s body shielded from the wind as he could.

“Umb… I ate a little bit of toast od Tuesday. That’s whed I rad out of food…”

Hunk frowned again, it was Thursday. Why on Earth didn’t Keith ask for help sooner? Then he remembered the look of hatred on Pidge’s face from earlier. Keith must have known that Hunk and Pidge would take Lance’s side—they had been friends for many years. Keith had only joined the group about a year prior. Keith still felt like an outsider, too scared of rejection to ask for help.

Keith shuddered in his arms with a sob, murmuring a jumble of words, mostly apologies.

Hunk just held him tighter and pressed on, thankful when he saw Keith’s building coming up. He didn’t bother saying hello to any of his friends that he passed in the lobby, only offering them a halfhearted nod of acknowledgement. When he got to Keith’s room he set the shivering man on the couch while he went to check the bedroom. The sheets were in disarray, just as he’d expected. Probably sweaty from his fever as well. He stripped the bed and was gathering a clean change of clothes for Keith when he heard Pidge enter the apartment. Their light footsteps moved toward the kitchen and Hunk made out the clink of a glass as they filled it with water. He smiled to himself, remembering how tender Pidge could be when they wanted to, and how docile and submissive Keith got when sick. That is probably what happened with Lance—it was a one-sided argument, with Keith just taking the insults, not fighting back at all. Lance should have noticed, but he was so dense and selfish at times. Pidge entered the bathroom, noting the nearly empty roll of toilet paper and nearly full wastebasket. They deduced that Keith must have been trying to keep the apartment as clean as possible just in case Lance decided to pay a visit… It saddened them to think about it. Besides Shiro, Lance was the closest thing Keith had to family, and having him freak out and leave was probably the reason Keith had gotten himself so sick.

Hunk made his way back to the couch, gently stripping Keith and redressing him, the smaller man had fallen into an anxious state of half-sleep, sweat dripping down his forehead. Hunk wiped it away with the small cloth Pidge had gotten from the bathroom, along with the thermometer, which he stuck into the sleeping man’s mouth. 102.7… That was not ideal. Keith startled awake when he heard the thermometer beeping.

“Mmb? What tibe is it?”

“5 o’clock. You need to go back to sleep, Keith. You’re really sick.”

Pidge whispered, trying to push him back into a reclining position.

“Wait! I deed to go to the club… Ladce said he was goigg there add I kdow the odly way he’ll forgive be is if I go bake a scede for hib. He loves it whed I get protective.”

Hunk frowned, knowing that even if he and Pidge were to say no, Keith would find a way to escape them and go anyway, and there was no use in him passing out on the street somewhere. He and Pidge exchanged an exasperated look, and Pidge turned toward Keith, trying to calm his nerves.

“Fine, Hunk and I are going to help you get to the club and win Lance back, but remember, Lance doesn’t ever go out before 9, so could you please just rest until 8?”

“Seved.”

“7:30.”

“Fide. But I have to be bore presedtable thad I ab dow…”

“We’ll help you get ready, but for now I need you to sleep.”

Keith muttered something about not being a child, but allowed himself to be carried to his newly-clean bed, and snuggled under the comforter. Hunk and Pidge set about the apartment, alternating between fretting about how they were going to help Keith, and checking up on him every half hour.

When 7:30 came, Hunk went into Keith’s room and gently shook him awake.

His eyes fluttered open and he immediately wrenched his body away from Hunk to begin coughing into the crook of his arm. Hunk then helped him out of bed and towards the already-running shower. The steam helped clear his sinuses, but he kept having to— “ _NGHchshtt’UH_! _Hhp’NGSTTue_! _Hh!_   _Huhh’MNPtshh!_ _AahtCHTSShyew!_ _Hh’CHTSshuh!_ _HuhNGTChuh!_ _HP’NGKshh!_ ”—do that… After a fairly lengthy coughing fit, he decided he’d stayed in the delightfully warm spray for far too long, and reluctantly shut off the water. After getting his hair dry and semi-presentable, Keith stumbled out into his room, shivering at the wave of cold air that hit him when he emerged from the steaminess of the bathroom. He slowly got dressed in one of his nicer sweaters, hoping beyond hope that Lance wasn’t expecting him to go all out on his outfit. He allowed Hunk to fuss over him, and wrap him in about five extra layers on top of the sweater, groaning when he realized they were going to have to walk to the club. He leaned heavily on Hunk the entire walk. After what felt like an eternity they finally reached the club, and Hunk promised he’d be right outside chatting with the bouncer, as Hunk was wont to do, as opposed to going in with Keith and Pidge. Pidge allowed Keith to hold onto their arm for a little support, but they both knew Pidge would never be able to hold Keith if he passed out. Keith squinted through the haziness of the club, or maybe that was from his fever, and tried to find Lance. He finally saw the tall man grinding on someone that looked a whole lot like Keith, but he was a lot taller. Great. This probably meant Lance would want Keith to fight for him if the man challenged him and, based on how drunk the other guy was, he probably would. Keith was in no state to do that, but he’d have to try anyway.

“Hey!” He coughed a bit to clear his voice, “Lance! Come on. We’re going home!”

He choked out, before trying to look as tough as possible in his unsteady walk towards Lance, whose face fell when he saw the feverish flush high on Keith’s cheekbones, and heard the congestion in his voice. Lance tried to intervene, but the man had already heard what Keith said.

“Excuse me? What do you think you’re doing with my man, punk?” The other man was slightly older, and he puffed up his chest, cracking his knuckles. As Keith dodged the first swing from the larger man’s fist, he saw Pidge run outside to get Hunk, thank goodness. For now he just had to survive. His movements were sluggish, and he soon took a hit to the face. His nose started to bleed, a mixture of blood and mucus now running down his face, he swiped at it with his sweater-clad arm and then nimbly swept the other man off of his feet with his leg just as Hunk and Pidge came in with the bouncer. Hunk caught Keith, who was now panting, as he stumbled towards Lance, then fell. Lance just stood there in awe for a moment, before scurrying after Hunk and Pidge, who were leaving, casting angry glares at him in the process. “Wait up you guys! Please!”

The normally fifteen-minute walk was cut in half as Hunk and Pidge raced to get Keith in bed as soon as possible, he was really burning up.

“What’s going on? Is Keith okay? Wait a minute…did he put you up to this? I bet he did! He’s probably faking! Keith, you _prick_. Why won’t you just tell the truth? Is that so freaking hard?” “Lance. I am really not in the mood for your dramatic shit right now. Keith is really, really sick and you just keep pushing him away. He asked you for a favor earlier, and a good boyfriend would have realized that he only does that if he really needs it. Pidge and I found him half-conscious, stumbling around the grocery store trying to get food and medicine after walking all the way there in the cold.”

Lance was speechless. How could he have forgotten? It was true, Keith _would_ only ask him for a favor if it was important… Like not having any food or medicine in the house and a burgeoning fever to boot. Lance was left to his guilty thoughts as Hunk and Pidge set about the apartment, gathering things for Keith. Lance settled next to his shivering boyfriend on the bed in an effort to share some of his warmth with him. Lance didn’t deserve such a wonderful boyfriend in his life, and yet here he was. If he’d even take Lance back after this. He could have died tonight, so Lance wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to take a break. He was pulled from his thoughts by Pidge shoving him away from Keith. “If you’re done feeling sorry for yourself, why don’t you start making up for being an asshole by helping us get him healthy? Or are you really that selfish?” Hunk took a thermometer and stuck it in Keith’s mouth, frowning when he saw the numbers. “104.6. We should take him to the hospital—”

“Do! Please… Do hospitals, Hudk.” Keith burst out, tears forming in his fever-bright eyes.

Lance cringed at Keith’s destroyed voice, trying in vain to calm down his panicky boyfriend.

“ _Hhah… Heh-Nngx!_ _ETCHSSHHH_! _Hh’tchiu_! _Hhah_ …. _hhh_ … _nn_ … n- _no_ , get aw— _hhih_ – _HITCHEW_! _Hiih’Nkxshh!_ ” Lance rubbed slow circles on Keith’s back as he sneezed exhaustedly into his forearm, frowning when Keith pulled away from him again, fresh tears beginning to pour from his eyes as some sort of realization dawned on him.

“H-Hih.... Hih’gTSXtchh-!!”

Lance offered tissues, but Keith tried in vain to pull away from his now-frantic boyfriend, sobbing into his pillow with snot running down his face.

Hunk stepped forward and forced Keith into his arms, slowly and calmly shushing him while petting his sweaty hair, “What’s wrong, buddy? What can I get you?”

“ _Hic-_ L-ladce w-was right!”

“What was Lance right about, Keith?”

“B-by fabily! All I do is hurt adyode who could possibly love be… By real bob got addicted to drugs after I was bord. I watched her die. She cobbitted suicide id frodt of be! She hated be! Add Shiro’s paredts… They were so kide to be… They didd’t deserve to die like that. They were od their way to get be frob subber cabp whed the sebi hit theb. Add if they hadd’t adopted be Shiro would still have his arb… What if sobethigg happeds to Ladce, or you or Pidge—”

He began to sob again, breaking off into a violent fit of coughing, Hunk pressed a wad of tissues to his friend’s mouth, frowning when he pulled them away and saw blood. Hunk had been in the nursing program for a hot minute before discovering that his true passion was engineering, so he knew that coughing up a bit of blood was normal if the throat was irritated enough, but if that got any worse they would be going to the hospital whether Keith wanted to or not. For the time being he settled for gently laying the now-dozing Keith back down and tucking him in, grabbing Lance by the arm roughly and dragging him to Keith’s living room where a pissed-off Pidge sat, having heard everything.

“I called Shiro.” Was all they said, glaring at Lance, then at the wall when he tried to garner some form of sympathy from them.

But what really scared him was what Hunk said next...

“I’m calling your mom, Lance.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The phone call!!!

Hunk picked up his cell phone and dialed the number, watching Lance cringe as he explained the situation, and then dodge an imaginary chancla as he heard the shrill “PUTA MADRE” emanating from all the way across the country. Hunk handed him the phone, then grabbed Pidge in order to give their friend a little privacy to be scolded by his now-livid mother.

“Sí mamá…No. Lo siento…I didn’t mean it! I was just angry…Si. ¡Ay mama! Por favor, not the freaking chancla! I know you won’t fly all the way here just to hit me…No please don’t! Voy a hacerlo ahora… Pero dijiste que—Oh. Okay. I’ll let him sleep… No, I don’t want to wait until he’s better, mami. He’ll never forgive me if I wait too long… Sí. I’ll wait until his fever breaks. Te amo también. Hasta pronto.”

He shuffled into Keith’s room looking like a kicked puppy. “What can I do to make things right, Hunk? I have been such an ass. I should have noticed he was sick in the first place. Heck, why do I even expect him to come to my concerts? I never go to his choir events… I’m the worst boyfriend ever!”

Hunk only looked at him, a bit of sympathy in his eyes, “That’s the least of your worries right now, remember Shiro’s gonna be here soon.”

“And he’s pissed!” Pidge chimed in from their corner where they’d set up their computer in preparation for their shift of making sure Keith’s fever didn’t spike in the night while Hunk slept. As if on cue, the door to Keith’s apartment slammed open, and Lance slunk into the living room to accept his fate, only to be picked up by the collar and shoved against the wall.

“What in the HELL were you thinking, you asshole? You KNOW he has issues with those things! But nooo! Keith misses one of Princess Lance’s stupid recitals and suddenly it’s fair game to bring up the one thing that hurts the most? It took YEARS of therapy to get him to stop believing everything was his fault. If you set him back into the depression he was in, I swear to god I will k—”  

Shiro was cut off by weak coughs and a wrecked voice trying to yell. “Shiro! Dod’t hurt hib. Please.”

Keith was standing there with a blanket draped across his shoulders, leaning against the wall. He shivered a bit, making grabby motions with his hands, “I just wadt by big brother to take care of be, please.”

Shiro dropped Lance, shooting him a quick death glare before rushing to his adopted brother and scooping him into his arms, tutting. “You’re burning up! Why did you get out of bed, buddy? I’m sorry about Lance, I won’t kill him I guess. But if you ever want him taken out, I will not hesitate to call some of my buddies from high school and they can take care of him real quick.”

Keith shivered exaggeratedly, fixing Lance with a hopeful half-smile, before allowing Shiro to shove a thermometer in his mouth and coddle him for the next hour and a half. Hunk, Lance, and Pidge occupied themselves with cleaning the apartment and, only after Hunk dosed each of them with the appropriate amount of Emergen-C were they allowed near Keith again. Hunk even forced some of the immune-boosting nastiness into Shiro, though he insisted he didn’t care if he got sick so long as Keith was okay.

“Ngh’KXT!” Speaking of Keith.

Shiro still wouldn’t allow Lance near him, shooting him death glares every time he even tried to make eye contact with the sick man. Lance was just moping around the apartment, trying not to feel sorry for himself. This whole mess felt like his fault, after all. Hunk noticed Lance’s distress and decided to help him out a bit. He had Pidge text Matt to make up some reason for Shiro to come home, and they begrudgingly agreed. They were not about to forgive Lance for the awful things he said to their brother’s boyfriend’s adopted brother who, consequently, was also one of their best friends. But Matt had been texting them nonstop to check on Shiro, which was starting to annoy the hell out of them. So Shiro got a call and, unable to resist his boyfriend’s sad voice saying how much he missed him, checked Keith’s temperature one more time and then left.

Lance tried to hug Pidge, but received a sharp kick to the shin, and a muttered “you hurt him again and I swear I will rip off your-mmf!” their threat was cut off by Hunk’s large hand encompassing the lower half of their face. Hunk encouraged Lance to enter Keith’s room, and Lance’s heart broke yet again to see his boyfriend’s pale and lean form shivering under the blankets.

“Hey… Can I sit down?”

“Sure.”

He carefully settled onto the edge of the bed, frowning when glassy eyes met his. Shiro had said Keith’s fever had gone down… It must be spiking again.

"Hh'GNXT! Nhh-GHXT!! Tssh'GHTT! _Heh' **ngx** st!_ Hh'ItGSsh! Hhgnxxt! Ghuhh…”

Oh. He just needed to sneeze. Lance passed a tissue, which Keith abashedly took, turning away from him to pinch-wipe his nose, but refusing to blow.

“ _Heh… h’hhh…. Hheeh…_ ”

If Keith didn’t blow then his body would just keep torturing him until the irritant was expelled.

“ _Hehh… heahhh… sdf… ngh, sdfffl… heh-yehh_ …”

Lance gave him a meaningful look, Keith knew this happened to him and yet he still refused to do what would be best for him.

“ _Ih! Ihh-hih… hiih_ …”

Lance ran his pointer finger down the bridge of Keith’s nose, smiling a bit as it gave a violent twitch in response.

“St-stop… Y-you…  _heh!_ ”

He traced Keith’s chapped and sensitive nostrils, feeling a bit guilty at how much he enjoyed teasing them.

“Y-you’re godda bake be sdee— _esshHISSSHUH! ESCHIH! Heh-YESHHIH!_ _h’nxt–tt **TCHUH!**_ ”

Keith ducked away from Lance to aim the sneezes into the crumpled tissues he held, and he was left shivering and exhausted in the aftermath of his fit. Lance curled himself around his boyfriend’s smaller form, offering up some of his warmth and stroking Keith’s tangled hair. Keith looked up at him, eyes still hazy from the fit, and Lance pressed an adoring kiss to his forehead, frowning a bit when he found it to be warm. Then he began to connect the dots in his mind—Keith obviously hadn’t been sleeping well, he’d had to walk through the snow for at least an hour that day (nice going, jackass), he hadn’t had medicine for most of the duration of this illness, and he hadn’t been eating because he was out of food that he knew how to make, which is the reason he had to walk through the snow in the first place, and more. Pneumonia. Keith mentioned he’d had it a lot as a kid…One of the main reasons no one had adopted him for so long was that no one wanted the kid who was shivering in the heat of the summer, trying not to hack his lungs out in front of prospective parents—until Shiro’s family came along. Lance winced, trying not to reflect on the awful things he’d screamed at Keith when he was packing his stuff up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAHHHH I DON'T KNOW HOW TO END CHAPTERS WHAT  
> I'm not sure where I'm going to go with this lol, but please feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions on what I can do better!


End file.
